Adrian approves moratorium on marijuana facilities

The Adrian City Commission voted 5-1 Monday to impose a 120-day moratorium on allowing any new medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

John Mulcahy

The Adrian City Commission voted 5-1 Monday to impose a 120-day moratorium on allowing any new medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

Commissioner Michael Osborne Jr. voted against the measure.

The moratorium takes effect immediately, city attorney Sarah Osburn said after the meeting.

The goal of the moratorium is to give the city time to develop a zoning ordinance to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries before any more such facilties open.

Two medical marijuana dispensaries exist in the city now, one in the 200 block of North Winter Street and one in the 100 block of West Maumee Street, police chief Terry Collins said.

The existing facilities will not be affected by the moratorium, nor will growing or use of medical marijuana by individual certified patients or caregivers, Osburn said.

Michigan’s medical marijuana law, approved by voters in 2008, allows certified patients having certain debilitating medical conditions to grow and use a limited amount of marijuana. Registered medical marijuana caregivers are allowed to grow a limited number of marijuana plants and distribute marijuana to not more than five patients.

Caregivers may be compensated for costs associated with giving care to registered medical marijuana patients, according to the website of the Michigan Office of Admini­strative Hearings and Rules. Such compensation does not constitute selling a controlled substance, the website says.

According to the website of the Michigan Department of Community Health, which administers the medical marijuana law, there is no place in Michigan where marijuana can be legally purchased.

The city planning commission voted Dec. 7 to recommend that the city commission impose the moratorium.

If someone tries to open a new medical marijuana facility in the city, that person now would be in violation of the zoning ordinance, which is a civil infraction, and they could be fined, Osburn said.

After the meeting, city administrator Dane Nelson said the fine for a first offense can be $100 a day for every day the dispensary stays open illegally. Second and third offenses could go up to $200 a day and $300 a day, he said.

Though several commissioners expressed doubts about the efficacy of the moratorium, Osborne was the only one to vote against it.

“It just doesn’t make sense to me how you can tell somebody you can’t do this if we already have two in town,” Osborne said after the meeting.

Osburn said after the meeting that zoning law is usually interpreted to protect existing uses, such as the existing medical marijuana facilities.

Osborne said he does favor the planning commission coming up with a new ordinance regulating medical marijuana facilities.

At its Dec. 7 meeting, the planning commission asked city community development director Chris Atkin to gather information about what other cities are doing to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries. The commission expects to take up the issue at its January meeting, planning commission chairman Mike Jacobitz said.

Tecumseh imposed a moratorium on medical marijuana facilties that expires in February. In November, Madison Township approved up to a yearlong moratorium on such facilities.

The Adrian moratorium could be lifted early if the city develops an ordinance before 120 days have passed.